AN: I love my readers so much! Thank you for the reviews and all your support. Your reviews are what inspire me to make sure I deliver the best I can within my ability and at least try to edit to the best of my abilities (I would like to be an editor in addition to being a novelist, but my style and approach to writing may be too informal for it so I may just try to become a critic).

With that said, I really debated on whether I would scrap these next two chapters or not. I'm not sure what the reader reaction will be to this and the next one, but I decided I can't call myself a real writer if I'm not afraid to take a chance where it hits or misses. So I went with it. You tell me what you think.

Read, enjoy, and review!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Chapter Twenty-two

A bunch of dead ends. That's all they were, every lead they found, every planet they went to was a dead end. In all likelihood about half the places they checked, Shmi had indeed been to in her year with Han, but in effort to keep her hidden, they rarely travelled in a pattern. They had no ties to many of the planets they went to, and it was very likely that Han had used a number of codes and names for the Falcon to go by.

But Ahsoka wasn't too worried about Shmi anymore. Wherever she had gone to, she was safe. She felt it. It was Vader she was concerned about. He had been withdrawn lately and that was saying something since Vader was naturally a distant person. But Ahsoka was sure they had gotten past that stage. The more she thought about it though, the more she realized they were still stuck in the same cycle they had been in for years and Ahsoka wasn't sure she wanted to bring Shmi into this. She was safe wherever she was and Ahsoka was content with that for now.

Right then, she and Vader needed to talk. She found him doing what he had been doing lately, working. She found herself intimidated as he didn't even bother to acknowledge her presence. He simply continued to pour over whatever work he was doing. It looked like a design for a TIE.

Ahsoka crossed her arms and rolled her eyes waiting for him to acknowledge her knowing he would grow annoyed with him just staring at her.

"What?" he asked finally.

Ahsoka flinched at the harshness of his tone and sighed.

"Forget it," she said.

"It must be important if you stood there for the better part of fifteen minutes waiting on me to acknowledge you," he said to her.

"Yeah," Ahsoka said not knowing if she had the nerve now but continuing nonetheless. "We need to talk."

Vader looked up at her at that point. "About what?"

"Us," she said seriously, previous intimidation forgotten.

"What about us?" he asked and Ahsoka found herself growing impatient.

"I'm talking about where does this so-called relationship of ours stand?" Ahsoka asked. "We can't just not talk about it forever."

Vader didn't immediately reply and Ahsoka knew that's exactly what he would rather do. He had always been a man of action. Words hardly impressed him without the actions to back it up and she understood that. That's why in all their years she had never pressed him to tell her how he really felt about her, even though sometimes she briefly felt it inside him. But it was times like these, when he pushed her away and bottled himself up that made her wonder if she had imagined it, if he was just toying with her.

"What do you want me to say to you?" he asked.

"That would defeat the point of asking you. Stang it. Say anything. But don't act like you don't feel anything because I know you do. You let me feel it before and I understand you'll never say it but for force's sake don't keep me guessing about it. Stop with this cold indifferent act," Ahsoka demanded.

"It's not an act."

"Yes it is!" Ahsoka snapped. "I know you. I knew you before you were Vader and you've always hidden yourself behind a mask of no fear and anger and indifference because showing it always got you in trouble. Nothing changed in that respect."

"It's not a mask as you put it," Vader denied. "Besides, it never bothered you before. Why does it bother you now?"

Ahsoka groaned. "Well of course it bothers me now. I had a baby! Your baby! Our child is going to wonder why sometimes we act like we can barely stand to be around each other sometimes and I don't want to drag her into this. I rather we not find her at all if this is what she's going to walk into. I wasn't even Leia's mother and it bothered her. Did you ever wonder what it would do to our little girl?"

Vader had to admit, he hadn't considered it. His and Ahsoka's love-hate relationship took its toll on Leia even though one wouldn't know it. It drove her to do something to fix it. But it was likely that Shmi might not take Leia's optimistic approach.

"You didn't think about it at all did you?" Ahsoka asked hotly.

"Do you want me to answer that honestly?"

Ahsoka resisted with all her might the urge to hurt Vader.

"Just stop it!" she said standing up in anger now.

"Stop what?" Vader snapped back not one to be intimidated as he stood to tower over her to no avail as Ahsoka wasn't intimidated.

"Stop acting like a Sith Lord."

"Then how do you want me to act? Like a Jedi?" he asked sarcastically.

"I don't want you to act like either one. I just want you to act like you!" she snapped. "I want you to stop acting like an asshole. What's wrong with you? Why have you shut me out?"

Vader clenched his jaw let out a deep breath. "Leave it Ahsoka."

Ahsoka looked at him in disbelief. How could he just tell her to do that like she'd be okay with it? She glared at him through narrowed eyes and stomped out the office. Vader sat back in his chair, intending to go back to what he was doing until he felt the force warning and only just managed to grab Ahsoka's hand as she tried to strike him with her lightsaber.

"Are you insane?" he asked angrily.

"I was wondering the same thing about you," she said struggling against his grip on her wrist.

She'd practically climbed over his desk by then and because of the force she was using to try attacking him, when he started to give a little to try and take the lightsaber from her, she fell into his lap and the chair toppled sideways. The lightsaber fell from her hands into a corner and Vader managed to pull Ahsoka onto her back with his hands holding down her wrists.

"What is wrong with you?" he asked in a mixture of bemusement and fury.

Ahsoka hissed at him, the predator in her leaking out. Then she bent one of her knees to knee him in his stomach. He winced a little, the attack not having much damage, but it hurt enough that he loosened his grip on her wrist and she forced pushed him off her. Vader stood up, prepared to defend himself from her again, but instead she summoned her lightsaber and stormed out the office.

Naturally, Vader followed her to their quarters where she had taken out a small leather backpack and pulled the drawers open.

"What are you doing?" he asked her.

"I'm leaving. What does it look like?" she asked angrily as she zipped up the bag with the little she had put in it and briskly walked out the quarters.

Vader didn't even bother trying to put on his suit and mask and to be honest, he was beyond caring as he went after her but refrained from trying to stop her. He was too livid to do that. He was very aware that he might end up hurting her if he got his hands on her.

"And where are you going? You said it yourself. You have nowhere else," Vader reminded as she picked a random shuttle, one from his personal hanger no less, and started up the ramp.

"Oh there is one place," she assured him. "I just haven't been there in a while."

With that, Ahsoka closed the ramp and before long she had started the ship and took off from the executor, making the jump to hyperspace shortly thereafter.

Vader closed his eyes as he resisted the urge to go kill some random officers in his rage. He would have followed her immediately, but it could wait. Ahsoka was probably too angry about whatever she was angry about to think that he had installed a tracer on all his ships and all it took was him activating it from a control on one of his gauntlets to find her.

Despite his anger though, Vader found himself musing how Leia used to say that he and Ahsoka had a relationship right out of a holo-vision space opera. Vader cringed at that thought, but he had to admit, if only to himself, his daughter had been right.

xxxxxxxxxxx

Ahsoka felt significantly less depressed as she made her way through the small village… Well it wasn't exactly small anymore. In the last thirty plus years since she had been there, it had certainly expanded, now looking more like a small town than a primitive village. But there was one thing that was the same as always, the local market square. She backed out the way when she sensed a group of torgruta children running. They sped past her to go to a booth with sweet fruits. She laughed a little and walked past them as she searched for the familiar berry only native to Shili.

She found it on a large booth with the fruit, and despite her better judgment, picked one of the small red and white fruits up by the stem and picked off the fruit with her tongue before taking out the large seed… It tasted just like she remembered it. She grabbed a bag and began to pick through the fruits, taking the one's with the deepest red and palest white, occasionally eating one or two between her pickings. Vader would probably scowl at her antics, his feelings being a cross between disbelief and embarrassment. Ahsoka briefly frowned at the thought of him before clearing her head of all thoughts of him. She didn't even want to think about it.

A torgruta woman, probably a few years older than her, came from the tent behind the bench and caught Ahsoka red handed putting one of the fruits in her mouth. Ahsoka froze and looked up, a dark blush coloring her cheeks.

"I'm sorry!" she said. "I didn't mean it. I'll pay extra for the ones I ate. I promise."

To her surprise, the woman only laughed.

"I haven't seen a person eat those things like that since my sister," she said and shrugged. "Don't worry about it. It's not like I don't have a whole farm of this stuff to spare. That's all you're getting?"

"Yeah," Ahsoka said sheepishly rubbing her neck, a habit she no doubt picked up from Vader. She frowned. She wasn't supposed to be thinking about him.

"Let's see how much you got," the woman said taking the bag from her weighing it on her scale. She looked up when she was done. "That'll be…"

Ahsoka, noticing the woman trail off, turned her blue eyes to her to see her staring.

"What?" she asked.

"You just look really familiar," the older togruta said. "I know those face markings."

Ahsoka doubted it. She hadn't been back here in thirty years and no two torgruta had a face marking pattern that was exactly alike, maybe similar, but not exactly the same. With a second glance, she was sure the woman would see the difference.

"You're mistaken," Ahsoka said turning to completely look at the woman from where she was still picking through the fruit. "I haven't been here since I was three."

"Ahsoka!"

Or maybe she had been wrong…

"You must have the wrong one," Ahsoka replied. While her name wasn't exactly popular on Shili, it certainly wasn't rare.

"No. Ahsoka it's you! Don't you remember me?"

Ahsoka tilted her head to the side and went deep into her memory, the memories she had been forced to push aside when she became a Jedi and hadn't thought to try to remember in the twenty years since they had been destroyed. She remembered her… A face came up in her head, younger, but with the same facial markings.

"Avani…?" she said hesitantly.

"It is you!" she said blinking in amazement. "Ahsoka!"

Avani ran around the booth and grabbed Ahsoka in a hug. Ahsoka tensed. She barely remembered who the woman was, but here she was hugging her.

"By the force, you're a grown woman now," Avani said looking at her from a small distance. "Atallah's going to freak! And Ahava and Amaia… They probably don't even remember you."

Ahsoka wasn't quite sure each she was matching up faces correctly with names, but she did recall with sudden clarity that she had four sisters.

"Ahsoka," Avani said snapping her out her thoughts. "Are you okay?"

"Sorry…" Ahsoka said blinking. "It's just…"

"Overwhelming isn't it?" Avani said to her and then smiled. "Well looks like I'm done here for today."

"You don't have to stop what you're doing for me," Ahsoka said awkwardly.

"You're joking right?" Avani said giving her a dry look as she packed up the booth.

"But-."

"Nonsense," Avani said to her. "It's not every day you find your long lost sister."

Lost, Ahsoka mused. In all her time looking for Shmi, it had never occurred to her that she had been lost from her own family. Hell, until a few minutes ago she had forgotten she had a family. All she remembered was the village she had come from.

"Oh here," Avani said handing her the bag of berries.

"But I didn't pay for them," Ahsoka replied.

"What kind of person would I be to charge my little sister for these? Besides, we have farm full of them," Avani said to her. "We save the best trees for ourselves."

Ahsoka raised one of her facial markings and said, "Really…"

"Come on. I'll show you."

Ahsoka followed Avani, eating the berries on the way. They lived a little outside the main town, uncommon for torgruta, in a two level house made of red wood amongst a farm, full of the trees that grew the small white and red fruit.

Ahsoka stopped to look and bit her lip. She had the sudden urge to climb one of those trees and never come down.

"Come on Ahsoka," Avani said leaning her cart on the side of the house and going inside.

Ahsoka blinked and then followed her sister into the house. It was warm, homely, decorated in the traditional way of a torgruta home except instead of the huts Ahsoka remembered, it was a more modern built home.

"Atallah, Ahava come down her. I brought someone home."

A groan from the next room followed. "I hope you didn't meet some random man from the market to try to marry me off again," someone said.

"You're too old for that Atallah. You're knocking on fifty. Don't flatter yourself," Avani called back dryly.

"Then who is it?" another voice said.

"You all can see for yourself in you come in here," Avani said guiding Ahsoka to sit on the soft rug next to a fireplace.

"Don't tell me you think you found Amaia a mate," Atallah said again but this time leaning in the doorway to see with her arms crossed.

"Again?" the other voice said coming down the stairs.

Ahsoka looked up at them when they came down and Atallah visibly reared her head back while the younger one, who had markings that were less sharp, looking more like delicate swirls on her face nearly tripped down the last few stares when her eyes landed on Ahsoka

Atallah looked too shocked to speak, but it was the woman with the more delicate face markings that said it.

"Ahsoka?" she asked in confusion.

Avani looked surprised. "Well I guess Ahava does remember…"

"Ahsoka?" Atallah asked.

"I guess…" Ahsoka said awkwardly.

"But this is impossible. It's been over thirty years. Why-?"

Atallah stopped talking as Avaha made her way over and knelt in front of Ahsoka carefully studying her face markings before saying, "Yeah it's her. Her face markings always were more unique than ours."

Ahsoka found herself crushed under the weight of her sisters in the next moment. When they finally got off of her, questions ran abound about what she had been up to, but it was Atallah, the oldest, who got everyone in order.

"Hold on," she said. "One question at a time."

"Then I'll go first," Avaha said. "Where have you been? It's been so long. We thought you were dead!"

"Why would you think that?" Ahsoka asked.

Everyone was silent for a while before Atallah sighed.

"We heard about the purges," she said softly. "We didn't know what was going on. But I knew you were with the Jedi. How did you escape?"

Ahsoka averted her gaze before hesitantly saying, "It's complicated… I've been in hiding."

"Then why didn't you come here before then?" Avani asked.

Ahsoka sighed. How was she supposed to explain this to the sisters that apparently hadn't forgotten about her when she had forgotten about them?

"I didn't even remember I had a family until today," Ahsoka pointed out. "And even if I did, it would have been too dangerous. I've been well taken care of though."

"Then why did you come back here all of a sudden?"

Ahsoka shrugged. "It's home. I needed to get away. This was the only place I could think of."

"Get away from what?" Ahava asked. "Is the empire after you?"

"No. I'm not in trouble with them," Ahsoka muttered. It was kind of the truth. In a way she was in trouble with them.

"Then what?" Atallah asked. "You don't just show up out of nowhere and expect us to take that?"

"I didn't even know you existed, remember?" Ahsoka asked dryly and Atallah blushed.

"Sorry…"

"Leave her alone on it Atallah," Avani said to her.

It was then Ahsoka noticed someone was missing.

"Where's Amaia?"

"Oh," Atallah said snapping her finger. "She definitely won't remember you. She was just a baby when the Jedi took you."

"That's not what she asked," Avani said to Attalah. "Amaia's went on the hunt. They should be back soon. There's going to be a big feast later…"

Ahsoka didn't feel comfortable intruding like this. Even if this was her family, she was from a completely different world than they were.

"I'll stay here then," she said and immediately they all protested.

"No you'll come," Atallah insisted. "In fact, it's tradition that when a member returns to the tribe after a long absence, we honor them for coming back safely. If we ask the chief, I'm sure he won't mind celebrating the return of the hunting parting and celebrating the return of one of our tribal members."

Ahsoka frowned. "I don't think that's a good idea…"

"Of course it is," Atallah said.

"But-."

"I'll go tell him now," Atallah said with a tone of finality.

"And we'll find a tribal robe to dress you in," Avani and Ahava said running up the stairs to find something.

Ahsoka sighed. As cold as it seemed, she was really starting to regret coming here. She should have taken her chances with Vader.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

AN: I always planned to take Ahsoka back home in one of my stories and my first thought was for Ahsoka to be forced to destroy her old home by the emperor as a test. But I scrapped it as it seem more like a plot for my Dark Ahsoka series and nearly scrapped the entire Shili thing, especially because I wasn't sure if Ahsoka had an established family background. So I did a little research and come to find out that she doesn't and many writers just make it up or leave it to speculation. The task was making her family like Ahsoka but also different as Ahsoka's been raised in a dominantly human society… It was interesting. We see it in the next chapter. Now I've got to go get ready for my first final. Wish me luck! I studied enough. I better pass it, more than pass it.

Hope you enjoyed. Review Please!